A hint of the counter-attack strategy from the Liberals?

Posted by Scott Tribe on May 14, 2009, at 10:54 am |

The new Conservative attack ads, as you know, target Michael Ignatieff’s extensive travel and work abroad over the years, and try to use that against him as something that is “un-Canadian” (my words in describing my opinion on what these ads are trying to say, overtly or covertly). I’m presuming the Conservative brain-trust feel that “real red-blooded Canadians” will frown on a Canadian going abroad and becoming a success, or something.

We may have seen the hint of what will be used by the Liberals to counter that silly line of attack over at Warren’s site:

What do you think? Sixty thousand bankruptcies in a single month, or a Canadian guy who went abroad to be a big success: what’s the bigger issue, for you and your family? Wayne Gretzky, Neil Young, Celine Dion, Martin Short, Michael J. Fox, Alanis Morissette, the Sutherlands, William Shatner – and not a few others, many of whom are on tap, ready to speak up – are interested in your views, too.

If the idea hinted here by Warren is that the Liberals are going to point to a list of Canadians who went abroad and found success – and who most Canadians are proud of for doing this and finding the success they did – and that they also have a lot of prominent expatriate Canadians ready to dismiss the Conservatives attack lines that going abroad is somehow a terrible thing and is not an indicator you love Canada any less then other Canadians, let me say I like that strategy.

By the way, on a related topic, let me also give via BC’er a rare tip of the hat to a Canwest reporter; Andrew Mayeda, who decided he wasn’t going to go along with that aforementioned Conservative brain trust nonsense in insisting they be kept anonymous while briefing reporters on the attack ad release:

…two senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office — Harper’s director of communications Kory Teneycke, and press secretary and senior Quebec adviser Dimitri Soudas — provided a background briefing to reporters on the campaign. The officials said they took unpaid leaves of absence from the PMO, and were acting as Conservative party officials in delivering the briefing. It is unusual for government officials to unveil attack ads, a task that usually falls to party staff.

The rest of the reporters as listed by Jeff over at his site should be ashamed of themselves for caving to stunts like this.

UPDATE @ 1:36 pm: An amusing dig taken by Aaron Wherry at Maclean’s at Conservative Party national campaign director Doug Finley over Finley’s letter to Conservative supporters attacking Ignatieff’s travels abroad. People living in glass houses….